In an interview with SiriusXM talk show, Brendan Fraser gets brutally candid about his nomination for the Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in The Whale.
Brendan Fraser has always been outspoken about the Golden Globe Awards and their governing body, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. In 2018, he accused the then HFPA President Philip Berk of sexually assaulting him at a luncheon date in 2003.
Fraser was nominated for the Golden Globe Awards for his outstanding role in The Whale but lost to Austin Butler for his performance in Elvis.
The actor shares many candid opinions with host Howard Stern on the SiriusXM talk show about his nomination. The actor reveals that the nomination doesn’t mean anything to him, and he feels that this sudden selection by the body seems “cynical”.
Fraser also argues that the HFPA should’ve apologized to him and launched a full-scale investigation into his accusations rather than bestowing this useless nomination upon him.
Read his full comments below:
I found myself wondering is this a cynical nomination. I couldn’t really tell because of my history with them and that I still have yet to see the results from their reformation. We all are still awaiting that, to tell you the truth. Get it or don’t get it, doesn’t matter. What does matter is that it would mean nothing to me. I don’t want it. I didn’t ask to be considered even, that was presumed. I know that would displease many people for lots of reasons, but…They needed me, I didn’t need them. Because it wouldn’t be meaningful to me. Where am I gonna put that hood ornament? What would I do with that? It’s my fight, no one else’s, I don’t need everyone to stand in solidarity with me. It would be meaningful — if they wanted to make amends — to issue an apology that made sense … that they share the investigation that they did into me and my family and my friends — I never saw the result of that report. They wouldn’t give it to me, they said no it’s ours. So whatever’s in it they don’t want me to read it. Instead I was given a press release that said it was a joke.
Brendan Fraser
Fraser’s History with the HFPA
In 2018, Brendan Fraser openly accused Philip Berk of sexually assaulting him. He stated that the incident, combined with his mother’s death, had plunged him into a deep state of depression that had stalled his career for a long time.
Media outlets also speculated that Berk was instrumental in blacklisting the actor after the incident, which led to his career’s downfall even further.
The former HFPA president has denied any claims of sexual assault, as well as any attempted retaliation against The Whales actor.
HFPA gave a press release in response, saying that “although it was concluded that Mr. Berk inappropriately touched Mr. Fraser, the evidence supports that it was intended to be taken as a joke and not as a sexual advance.”
In response, Fraser says that the HFPA conducted an in-depth investigation involving talking to Berk’s friends and family. But he was never given access to the report. All he got was the press release from the organization.
In our opinion, Fraser has every right to be livid with the organization’s way of dealing with the situation. HFPA knew that Fraser was sexually harassed by Berk but decided to pass it off as a “joke” and offered no apology.
If this nomination is a way for HFPA to make amends, then the actor has every right to feel angry and wronged by the move. If the HFPA wants to make up for past mistakes, then a Golden Globe nomination is a meaningless way to do it.
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